Shari Lewis was an American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She was best known as the original puppeteer of the sock puppet Lamb Chop, first appearing on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956 and then Hi Mom, a local morning television show which aired on WRCA-TV in New York City.
Lamb Chop's Play-Along! is a half-hour preschool children's television series that was shown on PBS in the United States from January 13, 1992 until September 22, 1995, with reruns airing on PBS until August 29, 1997, and on Qubo until 2009. It was created and hosted by puppeteer Shari Lewis, and featured her puppet characters Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy. Lamb Chop's Play-Along! was followed by the short-lived spin-off series, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza.
A sock puppet or sockpuppet is a puppet made from a sock or a similar garment. The puppeteer wears the sock on a hand and lower arm as if it were a glove, with the puppet's mouth being formed by the region between the sock's heel and toe, and the puppeteer's thumb acting as the jaw. The arrangement of the fingers forms the shape of a mouth, which is sometimes padded with a hard piece of felt, often with a tongue glued inside.
The Brak Show is an American adult animated sitcom created by Andy Merrill, Jim Fortier, and Pete Smith for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. The Brak Show serves as a spin-off of the animated television series, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, for which the show's creators originally wrote, and featured recurring characters from Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet. Both programs used stock footage from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost. The protagonist is Brak, voiced by Merrill, who developed a quirky persona for the character.
Andrew Merrill is an American voice actor best known for his portrayal of the character Brak on Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original 1960s series, Space Ghost, which aired as a standard Hanna-Barbera Saturday-morning superhero cartoon, Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a reboot of the series intended for teens and adults, reinterpreted as a surreal spoof talk show and animated using the original series' artwork. For its first three seasons, the series is presented as a serious talk show with subdued jokes, but later seasons rely more on surrealism and non-sequitur humor.
Space Ghost is a fictional superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions in the 1960s for TV network CBS. He was designed by Alex Toth.
Cartoon Planet is an American animated variety show that originally ran from 1995 to 1998 and 2012 to 2014 on Cartoon Network. A spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the series centered on Space Ghost recruiting his imprisoned evil nemesis Zorak and his loud and dimwitted archenemy Brak to assist him in hosting a variety show.
Lamb Chop is a sock puppet anthropomorphic sheep created by the late puppeteer and ventriloquist Shari Lewis. The character, a female lamb, first appeared during Lewis' guest appearance on Captain Kangaroo in March 1956 and later appeared on Hi Mom (1957–1959), a local morning show that aired on WRCA-TV in New York, New York.
"Come Sail Away" is a song by American progressive rock group Styx, written and sung by singer and songwriter Dennis DeYoung and featured on the band's seventh album The Grand Illusion (1977). Upon its release as the lead single from the album, "Come Sail Away" peaked at #8 in January 1978 on the Billboard Hot 100, and helped The Grand Illusion achieve multi-platinum sales in 1978. It is one of the biggest hits of Styx's career.
"Pretty Baby" is a song written by Tony Jackson during the Ragtime era. The song was remembered as being prominent in Jackson's repertory before he left New Orleans in 1912, but was not published until 1916.
"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his estranged wife Jane McDowell in mind. The lyrics allude to a permanent separation.
Mallory Hurwitz Lewis is an American writer, television producer, ventriloquist, and puppeteer. Lamb Chop is a sock puppet created by Lewis' mother, Shari Lewis.
The Uncle Al Show was a children's television program originating in Cincinnati. The show was hosted by Cleveland native Al Lewis (1924–2009), and later was co-hosted by his wife, Wanda.
The Mouse Factory is an American syndicated television series produced by Walt Disney Productions and created by Ward Kimball, that ran from 1972 to 1973. It showed clips from various Disney cartoons and movies, hosted by celebrity guests, including Charles Nelson Reilly, JoAnne Worley, Wally Cox, Johnny Brown, Phyllis Diller, Joe Flynn, Annette Funicello, Shari Lewis and Hush Puppy, Lamb Chop, Dom DeLuise, Don Knotts and many more visiting the Mouse Factory and interacting with the walk-around Disney characters from the Disney theme parks. The series was later rerun on the Disney Channel in the 1980s and 1990s.
"April Showers" is a 1921 popular song with music written by Louis Silvers and lyrics by B. G. De Sylva.
"The Gold Diggers' Song " is a song from the 1933 Warner Bros. film Gold Diggers of 1933, sung in the opening sequence by Ginger Rogers and chorus. The entire song is never performed in the 1933 movie, though it introduces the film in the opening scene. Later in the movie, the tune is heard off stage in rehearsal as the director continues a discussion on camera about other matters.
"Hair" is the title song to the 1967 musical Hair and the 1979 film adaptation of the musical.
The Charlie Horse Music Pizza is an American children's television show that was shown on PBS in the United States from January 5, 1998, to January 17, 1999, with reruns continuing to air until September 5, 1999. Re-runs again aired on PBJ until 2016. It is the short lived spin-off of Lamb Chop's Play-Along! and was hosted by Shari Lewis, whose strong belief in the benefits of music education for children led to the creation of the series. Just like Play-Along, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was shot at the CBC Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Charlie Horse Music Pizza was Shari's final project.
Lamb Chop's Sing-Along, Play-Along is an album by Shari Lewis released on September 22, 1992. It was released on home video in 1988 by Fries Home Video. Songs were written by Norman Martin copyright ©1988 and produced by Glenn Jordan. All songs were published by Norman Martin Music (BMI) except "The Soft and Loud Song" and "Haunted House" which are published by Norman Martin Music (BMI)/Kadockadee Music (ASCAP). The children's choir director was Ann Pittel.
